Chester resident files civil rights suit for arrest in 2012 shooting

By CINDY SCHARR

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

CHESTER -- A 22-year-old city man wrongly accused of killing a local pastor's son has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, Chester City and several law enforcement officers, claiming they botched the murder investigation by ignoring key evidence.

Tahmir Craig is seeking undisclosed damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish and deprivation of his civil rights for his arrest and incarceration for a murder he did not commit. Attorney Joseph Oxman said Craig, who had never previously been in trouble with the law, "is an emotional wreck" because of his experience.

"Laziness, shoddy police work, an unwillingness to do their job correctly" were the reasons Oxman gave for the arrest of Craig for the May 28, 2012 murder of Devon Williams.

Chester Detective Nelson Collins, Chester Police Capt. Anita Amaro, County Detective Michael Jay, Chief John Ryan of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division, the city and the county are named as defendants in the federal suit filed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

The defendants "committed an egregious failure to investigate the murder of Devon Williams," said Oxman, who is representing Craig. "As a result of their failure, Tahmir Craig spent almost a year in prison."

Oxman claimed the detectives failed to ask witnesses for a detailed description of the shooter, but declined to release the investigative report into the murder. In the lawsuit, Oxman points to information provided to Chester Officer Mark Barag that a man known as "Diddy" had been feuding with Williams and had a run-in with him the day before the shooting.

The person told the officer that "Diddy," a drug dealer from the East End of the city, had hired a man from Delaware to kill Williams. The shooter, the informant said, was in custody in Delaware.

"I believe that this is critical information that the (investigators) completely ignored," Oxman said. "Had they followed up on these leads, I don't think Tahmir Craig would ever have been a suspect in this murder."

"He's completely inaccurate," said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, adding that Oxman hasn't even spoken to him or his investigators. "We follow up on leads even if we have somebody else in custody. If someone gives us information, we follow up everything."

"We'd be happy to hear from him. We'll take any information he has," he added.

Oxman also criticized Ryan and Amaro, the county and the city for their alleged failures to supervise and train the investigators.

Whelan defended the investigators in the case.

"As prosecutors in the administration of justice, we exhaust all resources in our efforts to pursue the truth. The arrest of Tahmir Craig was based on probable cause and witness testimony, including the positive identification of Craig in a photograph array by witnesses," Whelan said in a written statement. "Probable cause was established and a neutral independent magisterial district justice made a decision which determined there was sufficient evidence for the arrest and to proceed to trial. At all times, police acted in good faith and in accordance with their constitutional mandate."

Williams, the son of the Rev. Calvin Williams, of the Temple of Brotherly Love in Chester, was shot and killed in the area of Edgmont Avenue and 21st Street at 1 p.m. on May 28. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police obtained surveillance footage from stores in the area that captured footage of the victim and the shooter.

A photo taken from that footage was released to the news media. Two people came forward and identified Craig as the man in the photo carrying the gun.

Investigators also put Craig's name into a police database and found a state ID photo for Craig that they believed at the time matched the surveillance photo, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

On June 4, Craig, of the 800 block of Barclay Street, was charged with Williams' murder and incarcerated at Delaware County prison without bail.

Investigators sent the video surveillance of the shooting to the FBI for analysis. According to Oxman, sometime in the fall of 2012, they were told that Craig could not have been the shooter because he was shorter and thinner than the man in the video.

Oxman claims Whelan had that information for months, information that eventually freed his client.

"I don't think District Attorney Whelan is being very forthcoming," he said. "I think they had information several months earlier that Tahmir wasn't the shooter, but he didn't act on it."

Whelan said Oxman's assertion that he sat on the FBI's information was simply untrue. He said his office did not know about the FBI's involvement until February 2013. When they received their report the following month, they took the appropriate actions, the charges were withdrawn and Craig was released from prison.

"When the issue arose as to the identity of Craig as the shooter, the office of the district attorney, on its own initiative, conducted an independent investigation into the matter," he said. "It was decided to request assistance from the FBI lab in Quantico and, although they could not rule out Tahmir Craig as the shooter from forensic video analysis, they were able to determine that the shooter was approximately 5-foot-11½ inches tall."

Craig is only 5 foot, 5½ inches tall, Whelan said, and based on that information charges against Craig were dropped and he was released.

Oxman suggested it was possible that because the victim was the son of a local minister, information that he may have died while dealing drugs was withheld from the public.

Craig, according to his attorney, has faced additional problems after his release from prison.

"Some people believe he snitched on somebody to get out of prison, which is simply untrue," Oxman said. "That, plus the fact he spent almost a year in prison, has obviously affected him."